


Persona 5 Royal: The Justice of Hope and Faith

by PanickedMode



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:47:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25401844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanickedMode/pseuds/PanickedMode
Summary: Life is but an interwoven series of snapshots, all connected and leading one through their journey down the river of fate. However, what if a single snapshot was moved? What if a moment was altered in such a way that the ripple effects of one decision would save not only one innocent life, but many?Updates to come as quickly as I can manage them, please read and review!
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kitagawa Yusuke/Sakura Futaba, Sakamoto Ryuji/Takamaki Ann
Kudos: 41





	1. The First Snapshot

**Welcome, welcome one and all! First and foremost I'd like to say thank you for clicking on the little doohickey and opening this story. It means the world to me that you are giving this a chance. Right now that's out of the way...it's time to delve into an idea that's been eating at me for way too long and I need to pen this before it eats me alive. This is my second fanfic of sorts (cross-posted on FF.net) so please be gentle. I am aware that fics of this nature exist, but I hope to do my own take on it. Especially considering their should be waay more fics with the Yoshizawa twins to begin with, but however, I digress. In terms of my writing, I am open to criticism as long as it's constructive. Please don't just blatantly flame me, you will be ignored. Anyways, I could go on and on about all that, but I assume that's not entirely why you're here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Persona 5, I just like playing in the sandbox. SAND!**

**Without further ado, Panicked Mode presents...**

  
_Persona 5 Royal: The Justice of Hope and Faith_

_Chapter One: The First Snapshot_

**This story is a work of fiction.**  
**Similarities between characters or events to persons in your world are purely coincidental.**  
**Only those who have agreed to the above have the privilege of partaking in this game.**  
**The contract has been sealed.**  
**The world is not as it should be, it is filled with distortion and ruin can no longer be avoided.**  
**Those who oppose fate and desire change... from time to time they were referred to as Tricksters.**  
**You are the Trickster. Now is the time to rise against the abyss of distortion.**

  
_They say that life is a string of connected snapshots that join together fluidly to create the flow of life. A long string of images upon a single thread and it has been said that all it takes to alter the river of fate is the alteration of but a single snapshot. What if a very crucial snapshot was moved into place earlier than planned? What if an innocent life could be saved in a way no one had been anticipating? What if saving one life created a kaleidoscope of effects that ended in saving many? The river of time is a curiously fickle thing after all. Our story begins one rainy afternoon with a young man standing aboard a train as it heads into Tokyo._

  
The train spun its final corner and the young man released a sigh. Despite the stark difference countryside as he moved further into the city, Ren Amiyama had yet another flash of anger for the face he couldn't quite remember. The man who'd ruined his entire life. For some reason, the face of the man was incredibly hazy...he couldn't place it and it bothered him somewhat. It had been a simple enough night, one where Ren was headed home from his after-school activities and he'd rushed to the aid of a defenseless woman from the drunkard and unfortunately he'd been left with nothing except an assault charge. An assault charge that had, ultimately, changed everything. The judge had ordered for him to go to the city and take the final year of his schooling here, under probation. 

_'Funny how a single action can have such far reaching consequences.'_

  
Ren's thought was bitter, though, he had to admit he wasn't sure what was the worse. The false conviction itself, or the fact that everyone, his parents included had turned their backs on him when they found about the charged refusing Ren the chance to even explain his side of the story. In some ways, a year away from that environment was preferable to staying in it. Not even the small group of friends he'd attained at his school had wanted anything to do with him once he was convicted, so he guessed there was probably no downside to leaving that horrible place behind. 

"This is Yongen-Jaya." 

  
The sudden voice interrupted Ren's thoughts, it was the train announcement informing the passengers that they had arrived at their next stop, which, incidentally was where Ren was due to get off at. He collected the bag from the seat beside him and immediately walked out of the train and made his way to the back of the platform, so he could take the escalator up to the higher ground.   
"Not even supposed to be here for another month," Ren muttered darkly to himself. The situation had changed slightly since his father had decided to take a transfer to a part of the company far away from their current city. Ren could only assume it was due to the shame of having a felon for a child, but he never took the moment to ask, he didn't care. Ren's relationship with his father had never been a particularly strong one in the first place and the incident only seemed to futher widen the rift between the two of them. Either way, the important thing about that moment was that Ren was forced to come to his new living arrangements an entire month before schedule where he would be staying and working for the man that had agreed to take him for the year. It's not that he minded working, it was more the circumstances surrounding the move. Even his parents couldn't wait to be rid of him for the year. 

  
_'Starting today I'm going to be living with Sojiro Sakura. I should find out where he lives for a start. '_

  
Ren slipped his hands into his pockets as best as he could whilst carrying his bag, making a turn so he could move down the central street on Yongen, yet there seemed to be no indication of where he was going. He wished his parents had at least left him with an explanation of where this address was beyond just 'Yongen'. It would've at least been something to work with.   
Well, since they had elected to skip out on that, he was going to have to improvise. Luckily for Ren's sake, a police officer was standing by a street lamp. Ren wasn't partial to Police officers, not since...that entire situation had happened, but since he was lost right now, he was going to have to swallow his pride and ask for directions whether he liked it or not. 

"I would like to ask for directions." 

Hm? You want to get to the residence at that address? It's in an alley a bit further back. Take a right at that apartment with the stairs." 

"Thanks, officer." 

"Sure thing, kid." 

Ren moved down the street and hung the right by the apartment as the officer instructed then moved to the gate at the furthest side of the alleyway. He noticed the nameplate said 'Sakura' and putting two and two together, Ren decided that this must be Sojiro Sakura's house. He gave the doorbell a ring, hoping for an answer but there was none. 

_'I'm going to be homeless for the next year.'_

Ren sighed, but at that moment a postman approached the Sakura residence, and shrugged, "Looks like no one's home, but...Oh! Sakura-san's usually at his Cafe around this time. Leblanc's in the back alley so I should finish the rest of my deliveries first." 

Taking note of this, Ren made his way back up the street and returned to the main part of Yongen that he'd just left. He took note of the back alley that the Postman had mentioned earlier and made his way down the street. Ren noticed the sign pretty much as soon as he saw the place. lettering across the red and white 'Leblanc coffee and curry.' 

'Coffee and Curry? What an...odd combination.' 

Ren then chose to enter the store, deciding it was better than standing around all afternoon looking out of place. As soon as the door-bell rung, an elder man wearing a pink dress shirt and brown trousers looked over toward the door and his eyes widened slightly. 

"Oh, you're here are you? Forgot that was today." 

"Thanks for the coffee, Sakura-san," the elderly man said as he and his wife rose to their feet, "We'll be around again some other time." 

"Of course, enjoy the rest of your day." 

Once the elderly couple had departed from the cafe, the man now identified to be the Sojiro Sakura whom the young man was looking for looked back to him and nodded, "Well, you're going to be

staying in the attic upstairs." 

The attic? He wasn't going to be in a proper house? Well, considering his current predicament, the young man felt as though it could've been worse. 

"What's your name by the way, kid?" 

"Ren Amiyama." 

"As you could've probably guessed I'm Sojiro Sakura. If you'll follow me, I'll show you where you'll be staying. Then once I've done that, we'll get you to work immediately, cleaning tables and such, think you can handle that?"

"Yeah, I can handle that Sakura-san." 

Sojiro nodded, then turned and jerked his head toward the stairs, "Come on, I don't got all day. Now you'll be working here for the month while we wait for your transfer date to begin and then you'll be expected to attend from there til the end of the year when your probation will end." 

"A whole year..." 

"Well you landed yourself in this mess, no use complaining about it, kid." 

Ren chose not to respond to that. If he was going to be staying here for the next year then he was going to have to make sure he stayed in Sojiro's good graces as much as he good. An air of civility between the two of them would be needed for Ren to make the best possible chance of surviving not only the next year but in particular the next month whilst he was here most of the time without school in between. 

"I'll at least get you some clean sheets for the bed, but it's on you to clean the rest. But, you can worry about that later, come on let's get back to work." 

For the next couple of hours Ren's new guardian put him through the paces looking after the cleaning side of the business. He wiped the tables down, sweeped and mopped the floors, washed the dishes and finally made sure that the stack of books to the front of the counter were still together nicely. 

"I wondered what kind of unruly kid I was taking in, but I didn't expect you to be a hard worker. How bouts we make a deal?" 

"A deal?" 

"You keep up with this hard work and how bouts I teach you to make the perfect cup of coffee?" 

Ren didn't show much of an answer except for the lone nod gave in agreement to the manager's offer and he was met with a smile in return. 

"Alright then, we've got a deal." 

The next couple of weeks went by like a blur for Ren, learning the tricks of the trade from Sojiro turned out to be a lot more fun than he was expecting! By the fourth day, Ren was able to make several things on his own and he also noticed that Sojiro was easing a bit on keeping such a close eye on him. Sure, he was always there when Ren needed help, but it seemed that as time passed he was becoming more and more relaxed with him. Not enough that anyone would notice a drastic change, but enough that Ren now thought that it would be possible to work alongside the cafe manager in peace. 

"Hey, kid," Sojiro interrupted suddenly, cutting off Ren's train of thought where it was. 

Ren turned his head, arching his left-side eyebrow to indicate that he was listening. 

"I need you to go and collect some ingredients for the store. The one in Yongen doesn't have everything I usually get, so you might need to go and collect it from central street in Shibuya. I trust you can get there and back with everything I need on your own?" 

"Yeah boss, I can do it." 

"Good, it'll also serve to let you have a bit of a look around before heading off to school next fortnight. So you'll want to start getting used to the area. To help you do this, I'll have you do our ingredients runs from now until school starts then I'll pick it back up once your term begins. Here's a list of everything you'll need. Straight there and back, alright? Stay out of trouble. Don't need you causing problems for me before school's even started. No unnecessary stops, alright?"

"Got it, boss."

Ren took the list from Sojiro then headed off out the door. His lips quirked up slightly when he exited, happy to finally have the chance to get out of the store for a little while, even if it was just an errand to collect ingredients for the store. Back inside the cafe, Sojiro sighed to himself as he watched the departing form of his young charge. 

"I wonder what's made me go soft with that kid? Maybe I'm just getting old..." 

Ren left Yongen for the train station and immediately climbed aboard the train that had just pulled in. He thought that it was rather lucky he'd managed to catch one so quickly considering the timetables of late thanks to all the accidents that had been occurring of late. He'd just arrived at the crossing in Shibuya, and placed his hands to the back of his head, resting them against his frizzy hair, turning his gaze upward to the sky just in time to see the rain beginning to fall against his face. 

'Probably should've asked boss for an umbrella, nevermind. I'll just have to make do. Today's list isn't all that big so I should be able to manage.'   
Meanwhile, further down the pathway, a young woman wearing a dark jacket with a bright yellow sleeve down the side and holding a yellow umbrella with black stripes around it.

"Today was brutal, huh?" 

She turned around, revealing her dark chocolate colored tresses, tied neatly up into a ponytail with help from the large red ribbon threaded at the top of the tail. She tilted her head slightly, concern for the person behind her rising, "Feeling okay?" 

"It's not that. Why am I doing so bad? I keep messing up my routine."

"Your growth spurts just changed your eye level. You'll get used to it, you're as tall as I am."

"It doesn't matter what I do, I just can't catch up to you." 

"You know why? It's cause it's my right as the elder sister." 

"We're in the same grade though," the other girl said dejectedly. 

"Aw, don't be so down. We'll reach the top of the world together. That's our dream, right?"

"You don't get it." 

The other girl, hiding her face beneath her own umbrella, hers a vibrant blue with black stripes around it. This girl wore a jacket identical to the first girl's and her appearance, though mostly hidden, was eerily similar to the first girl's. The only difference being that this girl's hair was a deep shade of crimson and had been left down, her red eyes also covered by a pair of glasses. 

"You'll never understand how I feel." 

Right then, the girl broke into a run charging forward, not hearing her sister's question, she charged on forward. 

"Hey, wait up! Look where you're going, the light's red! SUMIRE!" 

The sudden scream caught Ren's attention, his eyes darted over to the scene and he took sight of the two young women, one sprinting towards the road and the other in pursuit. Without thinking, Ren kicked off into a run, quickly approaching a sprint. 

_'I hope I'm fast enough!'_

He crossed the road as fast as his legs could carry him... 


	2. The Aftermath and The Velvet Room

  
_Previously on The Justice of Hope and Faith: Ren Amiyama moved to a new environment in Yongen-Jaya and began working at Cafe Leblanc for a man named Sojiro Sakura. Due to circumstances outside of Ren's control he moved a month earlier than scheduled and instead of moving his enrollment forward, it was decided that he would work out the month instead. Two weeks after his arrival, Ren was sent to collect some ingredients for the cafe and the situation had shifted into something completely unexpected! Find out the aftermath, today!_

_**Chapter Two: The Aftermath And The Velvet Room** _

_'I hope I'm fast enough...'_

  
Ignoring the droplets of rain hitting him in the face, Ren pushed his body as hard as he could. He sprinted across the road and pushed his foot forcefully into the ground. The impact of his foot in the ground created momentum which Ren used to kick off and lunge through the air, his eyes focused on the target as he desperately hoped that gravity would not work against him in this situation. His reached out arm brushed against the jacket of the girl in the way of the vehicle and thanks to a hefty shove, Ren forced her out of the line of fire and barely a moment later he felt the rapidly approaching tar seal beneath him stop suddenly and his eyes slowly drew shut as the world around him faded out of sight.   
A soft hue of navy encompassed the young man's vision, completely taking over his field of view and for a moment, there was nothing except this until thick, obsidian chainlinks crossed by his face, seemingly drawing him further into the depths of the blue expanse. Ren's eyes snapped open and he found himself lying upon a rickety bed, the mattress thin as a board. He tried to move his arms yet they both felt so heavy, as though some kind of weight were holding them down. His gaze turned toward his wrists and a gasp crashed from his lips. The thick chain-link he'd seen was now holding the cuffs locked around his wrists together, preventing him from moving them fully. 

_"It would appear that you have died."_

  
The sudden voice sent Ren's blood cold, but he didn't react outwardly but chose to move to his feet in the hopes of finding a way of discovering the one behind the voice. Ren's walk paused a moment later when he felt it. The same chain link was around one of his ankles!   
He forced his way to the bars and smashed on them as hard as he could. 

"Let me out!" 

"Wise up, Inmate! How dare you speak to our Master in such a way!?" 

  
Ren quickly yanked his hands back on instinct, surely if his knuckles had been met by the strange looking stick in the young girl's hand then he would be in for a world of pain. 

_"A natural reaction I suppose."_

"What d'you mean by 'it appears that you have died!?" 

  
Igor sighed, he was hoping to have this meeting with the young man a little later than what he was having it now when events truly started to get underway but this new situation had created something entirely unanticipated and now he was going to have to adjust to it to the best of his ability. 

  
_"Mere moments ago," he continued, "You sacrificed your life in order to save anothers."_

  
Ren's situation finally caught up with him. That's right! He'd jumped in the way of an incoming car to make sure that the girl in harm's way hadn't been hurt or otherwise injured. So, this was the after-life? Kind of underwhelming if you asked him. The three individuals he was met with didn't exactly scream after-life attendants, but then again, you never really knew what to expect until you came here yourself since no one alive was able to tell you what you were in for once you took life's final journey. 

  
_"Yet this is not the after-life as you so think it is, I am Igor and I welcome you to my Velvet Room. The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a prisoner of fate. In the near future there is no mistake that ruin awaits you. However, there is a means to escape this ruin."_

  
"Escape ruin? You just told me I'd died. Why do I need to worry about ruin? I'd say I've dealt with ruin already!"

  
_"Perhaps this shall lead to other, unexpected changes in this game as well...Fear not, I have a way to undo the damage that you caused by taking such a careless approach to your own life. However, you must make a deal with me."_

"And what deal is that, exactly?"

  
_"Simply allow me to play witness to the path of your rehabilitation."_

  
At first glance, Ren didn't believe he could trust this...this being called Igor. Something seemed...off about him, like he should be suspicious of the hooked nose individual sitting behind the desk in the center of the room. However, at this point he had little to no other option. He assumed if he didn't accept this offer then it would likely end him in walking the path of death as intended. 

"I'll take your deal." 

  
_"Very well then. We shall continue our discussion at a later point in time. For now, I shall send you back to the waking realm and wish you a healthy recovery. I am looking forward to watching your rehabilitation, Trickster. Until next we meet then."_

_\- Take Your Time -_

Ren's grey eyes slowly slid open, the room coming into focus somewhat and without much thinking about it, he reached out to grab the glasses sat beside him on the desk. He bit down on his bottom lip, trying to prevent the scream of agony threatening to break out from his mouth. Sighing some, he pushed what he could of himself back into a more comfortable position. 

"You want me to get those?" a voice asked. 

  
Ren looked up slowly, a curious expression on his face, "Y-yeah, please."

  
There was a weak quality to his voice, but he managed to say what he needed to in order to get the message across and that was all that mattered. He offered a silent nod of thanks, feeling a hand sliding his glasses onto his face. 

  
"So, you're Ren Amiyama correct?" 

  
"H-how did you?" 

  
The woman, a youngish looking individual with soft azure eyes and deep raven hair tied back in a bun offered Ren another smile, "We found a note in the pocket of your jacket slightly sticking out. We also took the liberty of calling the Sojiro Sakura on the listed address." 

  
"L-lucky I kept that. How'd boss react?"

  
"I'm relatively unsure, it was difficult to tell, but he's coming in the next half an hour so you'll be able to ask him for yourself then. Unfortunately though, I'm going to have to keep you here for a couple of days at least. Your injuries are rather bad and any unnecessary exertion may cause permanent damage. But after what happened, I'm sure you're not the least bit surprised."   
Ren's eyes widened and despite not being able to move very much right now, he quickly threw out the question that had been on his mind since regaining consciousness, "Are they-" 

  
"They're both fine, Amiyama-san, mostly shaken up by what happened to you. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up paying you a visit. One of my colleagues said they came by reception earlier whilst you were unconscious and asked for you. As for right now though, I need you to rest as much as possible until Sakura-san gets here alright?" 

  
"O-of course, Nurse."

  
"Please, call me Aimi. Since I know your name it's only fair that I should give you mine. I'll bring Sakura-san up here when he arrives. Now, rest." 

  
Aimi departed from the room as Ren relaxed again. He immediately felt all the tension leaving his body and released a sigh he didn't know he was holding in. Strange to think that even the simplest of movements such as lifting the upper half of his body to look at someone was now such a strenuous task. 

  
_'That's what you get for trying to play the hero, Ren. But if those two are okay as Nurse Aimi said, then everything will be worth it. Even if I scraped far closer to death's embrace than I would've liked. Now I'm just dealing with a creepy dude with a long-nose insteand and I'm not entirely sure which, out of the two, is worse.'_

  
Ren felt his eyes drifting shut and didn't attempt to fight as he felt the embrace of sleep return to him. Seconds later, or so it felt to Ren, he was re-awoken by the sound of the door to his room in the hospital opening. 

  
"What did I tell you about getting into trouble?" 

  
Ren looked over to the source of the sound and offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile, despite it being small, he hoped it was enough. 

  
"The nurse told me what happened already and though I should be surprised, considering the things I know about you, I can't say that I am. Well, at least you did some good by saving that girl's life." 

  
"T-thanks for coming to see me, boss." 

  
Sojiro heaved a sigh, his gaze sweeping over the somewhat broken form of his young charge, he shook his head, but gave his answer anyway, an unreadable expression beaming across his aged features.   
"Well, I'm your guardian for the next year so it'd be a rather poor showing if I didn't come. I've also been told that you're to spend a couple days here and then you'll be free to go. Don't worry about the store, I'm making sure that you get adequate rest before you have to begin school in a fortnight. It'd be best for you to begin that time without any other problems weighing you down, right?" 

"T-thanks boss, I owe you one." 

  
"Don't worry about that, kid. Just focus on getting yourself better alright? One other thing..." 

  
Ren tilted his head inquisitively, but he offered no words, instead choosing to let Sojiro continue when he so chose to. 

  
"It's great that you saved the lives of those girls, but please no more rescue missions, alright? I meant it when I said I don't want you causing me any trouble." 

  
"Of c-course, boss. I'd rather not spend a majority of my probation inside a hospital bed either. Though I suppose I can't cause any trouble if I'm broken for a majority of the time." 

  
W-was that an amused grin he spotted? Nah, couldn't be. Sojiro didn't seem like the type to see the funny side of that statement? Or at least Ren had never receieved any indication that he might find that sort of humor to be a positive. 

  
"I've gotta get back to the store for now, but since you're making jokes I'm expecting a quick recovery. I'll be back to pick you up once you've been cleared to leave this place. See you then, kid." 

"No problem, thanks again boss." 

  
Sojiro moved towad the exit of the room, leaving Ren with a final nod as he pushed the door open and left. Once he was outside of the door and had shut it behind him, the cafe owner shook his head in disbelief and muttered under his breath, "What a troublesome kid I've taken in..." 

_\- Take Your Time -_

  
"Are you sure about this? I can go with you if you need." 

  
The silver-haired individual's lips quirked up into a small smile but he shook his head, "I'll be fine. Something tells me it's important that I go and investigate this issue. Though, since I'm so new to this job it surprises me that you're letting me go back to the city." 

  
"It's you," the elder man said by way of explanation, pushing a hand through his greying locks and looking over to the young man beside him, "The last time you were investigating something it turned out to be pretty big and I have no issue sending you when I know what your skill set is. I do have one question before you set out though." 

"What's that?" 

  
"Are you going to be taking some of your team with you?" 

  
"Just Yosuke for now. If I need the others later then I'll call for them." 

  
"They probably won't thank you for that, Yu." 

  
The man now identified as Yu just nodded his head once. He knew that it would be an unpopular decision, but with just the two of them it would be easier to navigate their situations and react accordingly. A bigger group, while it would provide more manpower and such, they weren't at a stage where battle would become entirely important. Until Yu knew the entirety of the situation that they were walking into he didn't want to unnecessarilyput people in danger. Yosuke had already elected to go with him as well, agreeing that this decision was in everyone's best interests for the time being. 

"You think the mental shutdowns they've been talking about in the city are related to that world, don't you?" 

  
Yu turned back to the elder man and nodded, "Yeah. I'm not entirely sure about it, but that would make the most sense. I've been researching the events and circumstances surrounding it ever since this stuff started happening and it seems to be the logical conclusion that this is the next step." 

  
"Hm, well, just be careful, alright Yu?" 

  
"I will be, don't worry." 

"Good." 

  
"Yosuke and I have to leave early for Shibuya tomorrow, so I'll be headed for bed. Can you let Nanako know I said goodbye? I'm not sure she'll be awake by the time we go." 

  
"Sure thing, but make sure you call by the end of the day once you get there. I doubt she'll be impressed that you left without saying goodbye but perhaps she'll let you off a little easier if you call her." 

"Got it, thanks." 

  
Yu bid his Uncle goodnight then made his way up the stairs, heading into his bedroom. It was rather late already so he wasted no time in preparing for bed. A shower and brushed teeth, then he made his way into the room and collapsed into bed straight away. Unsurprisingly, he faded into a deep slumber moments later.   
Strange blue light encompassed his entire being and he felt himself moving, or more accurately falling through a vague blue expanse. Was he en-route to the Velvet Room once again? Igor had said that wouldn't happen again? 

**You do not have full access to our services for this journey, Yu Narakami. It was only possible to contact you this once with the last amount of strength I had. We are in incomparable danger to an extent even further than what we dealt with previously. Another Wildcard has been selected by my sister, however I was able to use the last bit of my own power to reach out to you.**   
**Whilst you don't have access to your wildcard abilities anymore, I was able to grant you the use of the Metaverse Navigation App as well as the use of your Persona, Izanagi. I believe as you go further on this new journey you may be able to attain a higher power with Izanagi but I will not be able to restore your wild-card abilities. Go forth and help the Trickster return balance to the world once more. Ruin shall await us all if you do not.**   
**I can already sense your next question and, yes, I will be granting these gifts to your friends should you have need of them on this journey. Good luck, former Wildcard.**   
**Unseal Your Destiny.**

  
_-Take Your Time-_

  
"That was one weird dream," Yu muttered to himself upon awakening. He rolled over and pushed himself out of bed, thinking over what he'd been told within the dream. Had that really been Margaret trying to reach out to him? Was it related to this investigation he decided to be part of? Time would only tell he supposed. Once he'd organized himself for the trip to Shibuya, Yu made his way downstairs, passing several things on the way, yet he seemed to be paying no mind to them, his focus still held on what awaited him in Shibuya. Out of all the words that were affecting him the most from the strange dream he'd had the night before was Margaret's final statement that he needed to 'Unseal' his destiny. What did that mean? Trying to take his mind off the dream for the moment, Yu pulled his Phone from the pocket of his jacket and pressed the button to activate it. 

"Wh-what the?" 

  
A new application had appeared, one that he did not remember installing. It was a red and black background with an eye upon the surface and once again, he recalled the dream that he'd just awoken from. 

_'This must be the Metaverse Navigation App that Margaret mentioned. I'd better not delete it, but I'll have a look into what it does once we're in Shibuya and away from prying eyes.'_

"Yo, Partner!" 

A young man who appeared around Yu's age with slightly unkempt fawn colored hair and brown eyes stood waiting for him. He was wearing a white jacket with an orange V-neck shirt, dark green pants and brown combat boots. Unsurprisingly, the guy also had a pair of orange headphones sitting around his neck. 

"Yosuke," Yu greeted, shaking his friend's hand firmly, "Ready to go?" 

"Yeah, our train leaves soon though so we'd better get to it." 

"I'm headed into work," Dojima interrupted the two of them, "Did you guys want a lift?"   
"Sure thing, Dojima-san."

Yu nodded in time with Yosuke giving his verbal answer and Dojima then jerked his head toward the door. The three of them exited the room, passing the dining table and a rather tidy looking kitchen on the way. The dining table had several things crammed upon its surface, indicating that Dojima was falling into a state of busyness where work was concerned once more. 

"I feel a small bereavement letting two of my best guys into the city for what I assume will be an extended period of time. I hope you guys can figure something out though, these odd mental shutdowns have been going on for far too long."

"Yeah...it's concerning, what's more is that the more we looked into it, we couldn't seem to find any connections between the victims. It's just...weird. There's so many gaps in it that we're not sure if it's entirely something that can be solved at face value. Oh, before we forget-" 

"You don't want to involve the others unless necessary. Don't worry. I've been told. They won't be pleased with you when they find out, you know that, right?" 

"Yeah, but it's the best option for now," Yosuke said quietly, "Though Inaba's a small, quiet place...I'm sure other police districts, at least the high up members of them would've got the files on what we did. To most people it would seem like a bizzare thing they'd never believe...however, it's the presence of our names we're concerned about." 

"What d'you mean?" 

"If someone who had access to those files somehow got their hands on our names and saw all of us in one place...Either way, it's better to be cautious then rush in all guns blazing. We'll call for back-up if we need it." 

"I'm more worried about someone keeping you two out of trouble." 

"Trouble seems to find us," Yu said darkly from the passenger seat, "We don't usually go actively seeking it." 

"That's what I'm worried about. Though, you two have proved that you're capable, so I'll leave it to your disgression." 

Dojima pulled up on the side of the road, just outside the train station and offered both a final wave, "Call if you need anything, either of you. Alright?" 

"Got it, Captain!" 

"See you, Dojima-san!" 

Dojima shook his head, "Well then, you two had better get going." 

Yu and Yosuke turned away from the car, slowly approaching the train station in silence. So many things were rushing through Yu's mind about this situation he was walking into. A message from Margaret and a strange application installed on his phone without his knowledge. Izanagi being open to him again? What did this all mean? Was it potentially connected to this case they were going to investigate around Shibuya? 

"Nervous?" Yosuke asked, "I've not been to the city in a while, so it should be a big change of pace." 

"A little," Yu said quietly, "but it's just the city, how bad can it be, really? Besides, we're only going to be there for a short while, once we have enough information, we'll head back to Inaba and bring the group together so we can consider our next move." 

"D'you feel guilty about, y'know, not inviting them this time?" 

"It's like you said to Dojima, we'll attract too much attention if we all go. So, no I don't." 

"Rise may kill you." 

"A sacrifice worth making," Yu said seriously, "Now, we'd better change the subject, don't need any uncessary people overhearing, alright?" 

"Got it, Partner! Shibuya, here we come!" 


	3. An Unexpected Encounter

_**Hello everyone! Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoy the newest installment of Persona 5 Royal: The Justice of Hope and Faith. This story has got quite a few follows and favorites now so I want to thank you for that! Also, I would ask those who are interested in doing so to please review so I can further improve this story and such n.n For these rather quick updates to continue I'd need to know people are interested in seeing more of this fic after all.** _   
_**Thank you all again.** _

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Persona or anything associated, I just like playing in the sandbox.** _

_**Persona 5 Royal: The Justice of Hope and Faith** _   
_**Chapter Three: An Unexpected Encounter** _

"I wonder what we're going to find... I mean it couldn't be related to that other world could it?" 

Hearing Yosuke's question, one that was given no less than two seconds after Yu had closed the door to the hotel room they'd be using for the duration of their stay brought a sigh to his lips. He had thought Margaret's message would've been enough to convince him of this, but he wasn't sure if that was the real thing or the result of a tired mind.

Yu looked at Yosuke for a moment, thinking carefully on how he should word his response then finally, he spoke. "I'm not one hundred percent sure yet. It very well could be since circumstances would lead one to believe that might be the case. We can't rule out that possibility. While I don't think it's the Midnight Channel itself since we dealt with that already, but it could be a larger portion of that other world, yes. The reports of these cases over the past while that lead my belief in this direction is the nature of what happens to anyone with close ties to the research of Cognitive psience." 

"What about it?" 

"They're always met with some kind of situation that forces the stoppage of their research. Whether by mysterious deaths or simply by denying them access to the continuation of their work the development of any research in the field has been halted." 

"Is there a recurring factor? Someone who could've influenced that?" 

"I've been looking, but nothing's come up so far. Our only option it seems is to try and validate the existence of this other world and get ourselves into it. Speaking of which.-" 

Yu paused what he was saying to pull his phone out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, the app that Margaret had installed on his phone was still there, yet it seemed to be pulsating somewhat with a red light, unlike the blank sort of feeling it had when they were back in Inaba. 

"I think I've got our ticket inside, as long as we can figure out how this application works." 

"Well, we're meeting with the prosecutor's office tomorrow, for now we can try and have a look at that app. How did you get it?" 

"Margaret." 

"Margaret!?" 

Yosuke was astounded to hear that. Yu had told him about the Velvet Room and the attendants are few times before, the fact that she was getting involved would definitely indicate the existence of this other world and the need to investigate the cause behind it. Without thinking too much about it, Yosuke reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, pulling it into the light. The moment his screen burst into life, the peach haired man's jaw fell open.

"H-hey it's on my phone too! What the hell!?" 

Yu felt that was the indication they needed. If Yosuke had the application on his phone as well as himself then this was more than coincidence. The other world they'd already traveled too still existed in some shape or form and they were going to have to deal with it. 

"Well, we'd better figure out how it works." 

Yosuke tapped his thumb centrally into the small icon and immediately the strange app began to pulsate with light. It enlarged upon the screen, revealing the strange eye from the appicatio's icon now larger upon the screen. The strange eye was covered with purpleish red colored lines moving past it. This continued on for a moment until the application was opened.   
"What the- This app is so weird, it's like some sort of Navigation tool. It has three categories you've gotta enter. A name, which I'm guessing is a person, then there's two other factors you've gotta enter. Localization and DIstortion...I wonder what this could all mean... It's entirely different from the stuff we had to deal with around the Midnight Channel." 

  
Inspecting the application from his own phone, Yu silently probed through his own thoughts regarding the matter. Margaret had given him this application so by that thread of thought it should lead to reason that it was connected to this other world he and his friends coud enter, but if it wasn't a real dream then it also meant that he was no longer the wildcard.   
But...if he wasn't...who was?

_\- Take Your Time -_

Ren's eyes slowly drifted open once more and he, with a little effort, managed to get his glasses on without the need to call the nurse this time. He pushed himself up in bed as much as he could without aggravating his injuries. The breath of relief came a second later and he turned his head just in time to see the door of his room open. Aimi's smiling face poked inside the now open entry point and upon seeing her patient awake she pushed through into the room. 

"How are you feeling, Amiyama-san?" 

"A little better." 

Aimi nodded, relief washing over her almost instantly. The scans had said that the damage was suspiciously light for the kind of trauma that Ren had endured but she just put it down to the fact that the young man in the bed before her was simply the type that was very lucky. She had originally intended on keeping him here for a couple of days and then re-evaluating how long his stay would be over the next few weeks, but it looked as though the young man would be able to be discharged by the end of the week at the latest. She would have to run some more tests to ensure that was the case, but by all early signs it seemed as though his injuries were surface level and not very major at all. She couldn't get her head around it, the guy had practically healed overnight!

"We'll run some more tests in the morning to confirm this, but if all goes well we can see about getting you discharged in a few days, sound good?"

'Yeah, thanks, Aimi." 

"Not a problem, kiddo. It's a little concerning how quickly you've healed up I must admit. After seeing how bad your injuries were I was expecting you'd be here for a rather long while and that was a

best case scenario. It's like there's an angel looking out for you or something." 

"Maybe," Ren muttered, more to himself than Aimi, "Maybe it's something else." 

"In any case, despite the peculiar nature of the speed in which you seem to be recovering, the process itself is rather impressive." 

Ren falls back into a comfortable silence whilst Aimi further explains what the tests she intends to conduct the next morning will look like. He assumed that it was to ensure that he had no information missing and would not run into any problems with unexpected events at the time. Ren could only think that this was done for everyone in case a patient was prone to anxiety attacks or similar. 

"And that's all there is to it," Aimi finished, "Any questions?" 

Ren shook his head this time, not feeling the need to verbalize a response. They'd said all that needed to be said and now it was just a matter of waiting until the morning arrived so that they could undertake these tests and evaluate whether or not Ren would be able to leave by the end of the week as Aimi had said was possible if tomorrow went well. 

"Okay!" Aimi beamed, "That concludes everything I need to speak to you about at this juncture. Do you need anything?" 

Ren still didn't speak choosing to jerk his head in the direction of the television remote. Luckily, Aimi caught onto this rather quickly and nodded enthusiastically right before going to fetch it for him. 

"There you go, hopefully you'll find something interesting to watch." 

"Thanks." 

Ren lifted the remote and hit the power button whilst Aimi turned on heel and departed the room to return to her job. The television now displaying the set of what looked to be a talk show of some kind. Though he was not usually a fan of these types of programmes they could sometimes be informative, so he elected to watch it for the moment. 

_"And we're back from our commercial break! Our special guest today is the idol, Rise Kujikawa!"_

_The young woman walked onto the stage, wearing a big grin on her face. Seeming a natural in front of the camera she twirled slightly and pulled a peace sign toward the audience._

_"Hi there, everyone! It's an honor to be here!"_

_The woman named Rise moved to take a seat upon the sofa opposite the one the host was seated on and she offered a smile to him, "Thank you for having me!"_   
_"Well, thank you for being here, Miss Kujikawa. So, let's get your take on your latest albu-"_

Ren quickly lost interest in the program after that. He didn't think that listening into a conversation with an idol would be very informative, since he really wasn't a fan of that type of music he doubted there'd be much in the way of things he wanted to know.Sighing some, Ren hit the button for a channel change, hoping there'd be something else on that might capture his interest. 

_"It's time for a show-stealing effort! Neo-Featherman Red!"_

_"You're going to regret messing with us! Neo-Featherman Yellow!"_

_"We'll crush evil! Neo-Featherman Black!"_

A nostalgic smile met the appearance of the figures on-screen, Ren automatically settling in a little bit. He'd remembered watching the show a lot before the entire mess with his assault charges happened and his interest had somewhat abated in favor of everything else that had been going on at the time... Not that his parents had really let him do anything for the duration of that time though, they'd not even been willing to him out regarding his innocence. He focused his attention back on the screen and allowed for all his idle thoughts to be washed away by one of his favorite programmes.   
Ren would discover that Neo-Feathermen was having a marathon today and watching the re-runs of the weeks previous episodes took most of the day away from him. At around one in the afternoon, Aimi returned to his room with his lunch. It was a simple affair of meat and vegetables in some soup but Ren found it to be rather pleasant. Ren figured that would be the height of interest to be found in a day spent in a hospital bed, but it would seem that fate had other ideas for him. 

"Amamiya-san are you awake?" 

Aimi's voice sounded softer than usual, perhaps she expected that he would be tired from his faster than normal recovery and would be needing more sleep in order to balance it out? He shrugged, considering that the train of thought surrounding the change of behavior could wait until a later stage. 

"I am." 

"There's a couple of people here who would like to visit with you, is that ok?" 

A couple of people? He doubted that boss would come and visit him only a single day after his previous visit and on top of that, by the time it was around the middle of the afternoon which was often a busy patch for Leblanc, people liked to grab a coffee and settle into one of the booths inside of the cafe so they could talk the day away. Something he'd noticed during his short tenure as an employee there. So, if it wasn't boss who else could it be? Had he been wrong about his parents not caring what happened to him? Had they put off their trip until they could find out whether or not he was okay?

That, Ren surmized was doubtful as well. Aimi'd only been able to contact Sojiro for him and didn't have access to either of his parents phone numbers. Sojiro did, but he was unsure as to whether or not the cafe owner would've handed it over. He supposed the only way to find out what was going on was to push forward and accept these visitors so he could ascertain their identities. 

"Send them in." 

"As you wish, Amamiya-san." 

Aimi stepped to the side, allowing the aforementioned visitors to enter the room causing Ren's eyes to widen, it wasn't any of his guesses but was just as suprising. The first of the two who'd entered was a young woman with dark coffee-colored tresses that had been tied back and held into a ponytail by a vibrant red ribbon. The person beside her looked to be around the same age except that she had crimson hair, which unlike the first girl's was let down and her own ruby-colored eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses. 

"Hello!" the first girl said vibrantly, "I'm glad to see that you're okay!" 

"H-hello, we wished to come and v-visit you so we could thank you for saving our lives in person-" The second girl forced her way through the words, Ren could see was struggling, but he didn't push and instead remained silent so she could tackle the matter at her own pace. He could notice very quickly the difference in their personalities. The first girl seemed to be bubbly and outgoing while the second seemed to be more quiet and reserved, yet he couldn't help but feel a strange rush of something in the pit of his stomach when he saw them. 

_'They really are cute...Whoa, hold up! Where did that come from!?'_

"Anyway," the first girl said, quickly taking over for the much quieter one beside her, "My name is Kasumi Yoshizawa and this here is my sister, Sumire. As Sumi just said, we came to visit and thank you for what you did yesterday!" 

There was a stark contrast between their personalities that was for sure, but in the same token, Ren felt a strong urge to grab the both of them and pull them behind him so that he could drive off anything and anyone that wanted to try and hurt them. This was made further important when Ren's keen eye noticed that the red-haired girl, Sumire was it? The smile she had on was one where the light of it didn't quite reach her eyes. It may have just been his imagination since the two of them just met but, to him at least, it felt almost entirely forced. 

"Well, it's nice to have someone other than Boss and Aimi to talk to for a change, no offense Nurse." 

Aimi laughed at Ren's joke and shook her head, "Hey you! I'm not that old, not as old as Boss is anyway! Well, since you seem to be in capable hands, I'm going to check in with my other patients. You two yell for me if anything happens with this one, got it?" 

"Yes, ma'am!" 

"We will." 

"Good. I'll leave you to it then." 

Kasumi approached Ren first, her bright eyes and happy smile drawing him in effortlessly. She had this sort of glow to her, one that he didn't think he could help but be entranced by. He figured she would demand the spotlight wherever she went whether she wanted that or not. Sumire quietly followed her footsteps and Ren turned his gaze toward her. Her eyes were a little downturned more in the ground's direction and she didn't have any sort of readable expression that would be obvious but Ren determined by her posture that she was finding the new environment a little challenging. Her shoulders were slumped indicating something deeper and the way she closely followed her sister's movements also gave clear evidence to not only her nervousness but perhaps something deeper. It wasn't Ren's business to pry, but he could perhaps do something to make her smile. He thought he'd like that. 

"If we're in the business of thanking people right now, I'd like to voice my own thanks toward both of you for coming to visit me. You didn't have to and I really appreciate it." 

A genuine statement. Ren hadn't expected visitors outside of Boss, so the unexpected surprise had really brightened his entire day. The bonus effect of his statement was the red-haired girl's, Sumire as her sister had called her moments before, lips curved up an inch. It wasn't much but it was progress and that was all that mattered. 

"Of course we did!" 

The reserved girl's outburst took Ren by surprise. Huh? Had he read her body language wrong? Maybe? Though, a quick look back at her sister and the surprise on her face from Sumire's outburst made him think that for someone she knew to be surprised meant that this side of her didn't come out all that much. 

"You s-saved us! If you think that's gonna be i-ignored then-then you're mistaken!" 

"Sumi..." Kasumi smiled at her sister bemusedly, then her gaze migrated towards Ren, becoming just as fierce as her sister's in that singular moment, "You heard her, Amamiya. You'd better listen too." 

_'I think these two might just be the death of me.'_

"Y-yes!" 

"Good!" 

That's when it happened. Sumire's expression changed. Her shoulders lost a little of their slump and her lips quirked further up into the first true smile Ren had seen in the little while they'd been around each other. Her smile was much softer than Kasumi's yet seemed to hold the same brightness to it as though a strange calming aura was washing over him and though he wouldn't admit it, the feeling it brought with it was something he could get used to. 

Sumire gently approached the bedside and took a seat beside Ren's bed, the chair that had been placed there conveniently allowing for he to do so. She felt a rush of something inside and bit back the sigh that threatened to escape. 

_'He can't take his eyes off her, they've barely known each other five minutes, too. I'll never be as good as Kasumi. Wait! I've barely known him five minutes as well so why do I care so much about his opinion!? Well, he did save my life...Not to mention he is perhaps a teensy bit attractive...Sumire! Now is not the time to be thinking that! '_

Kasumi noticed her sister's blush and resisted the urge to smile knowingly. She was surprised that this was the path of the development but Ren had saved their lives, so perhaps it made a little bit of sense that her sister was showing an interest here. 

_'Not to mention the fact he's kind of hot. Whoa, Kasumi. Where did that come from!? It's entirely the truth but you can't be thinking that about someone you've just met! '_

"Is everything okay?" Ren asked, noting how quiet the two girls had gotten, he didn't think he'd done anything wrong, but he didn't know them very well so he could've very well done something accidentally without realizing it. 

"O-oh it's n-nothing, don't worry about it." 

Sumire's tone had Ren doing the complete opposite of what she was saying and the look on Kasumi's face didn't help matters, but he decided to play along for now and not bring it up again. 

"If you're sure then, well I suppose this is a good a time as any to get to know each other properly. What do you like doing for fun?" 

"Well, we're both training to be top Gymnasts!" Kasumi exclaimed vibrantly, her face lighting up, "It's our goal and ultimate dream! But it's really fun too, I think it just adds an extra element to it because of how much we want to succeed." 

"We..we're going to take the world by storm," Sumire said much more reservedly, "Though, I doubt I'll ever be as good as Kas is." 

"Sumi! You have a level of poise and grace that I don't think I'd ever be able to replicate, you should acknowledge your own skills! You're my rival and that's why I'll strive to make sure I never lose to you." 

"R-rival?" 

Kasumi nodded to her sister, "You'll figure out this slump. Don't worry. For now though, I doubt our hero over here would want to waste his time listening to us fighting, right?" 

"R-right." 

"Great! Well, we've told you what we like to do for fun, what about you?" 

"I enjoy reading and I spent a lot of time in the batting cages back home." 

"Back home? Are you not from around here?" 

Ren heard Kasumi's question loud and clear, yet he paused for a moment. He was unsure of whether or not he wanted to go too deeply into his past. He didn't want them to think any less of him, after all and really, was it important why he'd left home? For now, he thought it best to keep it on the down-low. 

"Oh no, I'm just here to attend school." 

"Ah, I see." 

A vibrant bell sound blared into existence Ren's gaze immediately darted around as he sought out the source of the noise, but he couldn't detect where it might be coming from. He didn't have to wait long for an answer though, Sumire pulled out her phone a second later and answered the call coming through. 

"Hello? Hi Dad, yes Kasumi's with me, we're just finishing up, be home soon ok?" Sumire fell into silence a second later, appearing to be listening to what her father was saying and then spoke again,

"Don't worry, we will. Thanks Dad, see you soon." 

Sumire hung up the phone, then turned to Kasumi, "Dad said we need to be home soon, mom's almost finished with dinner." 

"Guess time flies when you're having fun," Kasumi said a little sadly, "Hey, Ren? Is it okay if we come and visit you again sometime before you leave?" 

"Of course," Ren paused, he could feel hesitation rushing through his entire body, his hands felt somewhat sweaty all of a sudden and he almost got the urge to abandon the idea entirely. No need to back down, Ren. You can do this. 

"Now that I've got some semblance of movement in my arms again, could we exchange contact info? It'd be nice being able to talk to you both outside these visits." 

Both Sumire and Kasumi's faces brightened at Ren's suggestion both girls nodding in time with the other in response to the request. Kasumi then moved to the shelf on the side of the room where a silver phone was sitting. 

"This yours?" She asked Ren. 

"Yeah." 

She collected the item and handed it to Ren, another smile lighting her features whilst doing so. 

"Alright then, exchange time!" 

"T-thank you, Amiyama-san. I look f-forward to talking to you!"

"There's no need to be so formal, Sumire. We're friends you know." 

"R-right!" 

Why does she have to be so cute? 

"C'mon Sumi, we'd better get to the station before the last train leaves without us." 

_**That Damn smile.** _

"We'll see you later, okay?" Kasumi told Ren, "Text us if you need anything or just want to talk!" 

"B-bye Amamiya-san!" 

The two girls left the room and Ren was put back into his own thoughts. Both girls had so much contrast between them and yet each seemed to highlight the personality points of the other. A true double act, they balanced each other out and made it very clear how close they were from their body language and in the way they talked to each other. Yes, getting to know Kasumi and Sumire better would prove most interesting indeed. 

_\- Take Your Time -_

"Hey, Partner?" 

"What's up, Yosuke?" 

"Wanna watch some TV? I doubt we're going to figure out much more of how to deal with that App yet, so it might help to pass the time." 

"Yeah, why not?" 

Yosuke grabbed the tv remote from the small table beside the television provided to them by the Hotel and flicked it on. Immediately the show on caught Yosuke's attention, his brown eyes widening to the size of saucers, "Rise's on Good Morning Japan? She's in Shibuya!?" 

"What!?" 

Yu dropped what he was doing, quickly moving toward the television. It was unmistakeable. The person on the screen was definitely Rise, Good Morning Japan? Well, since she was a famous idol nowadays it made sense that she would be on a show like this. Yet, she hadn't told him of an interview with Good Morning Japan in any of their conversations recently. He figured it might've come up in conversation...though, he had been busy planning this trip with Yosuke so he may have just forgotten about it...unless...

"You don't think she figured us out, do you?" 

"Well, if she did then there's every chance that the others are here too." 

"Listen carefully, see if you can pick anything out in what she's saying. It's unlikely that we've been discovered so we may as well here what she's got to say."

"Are you saying that cause you're hopeful we've not been discovered?" 

"Don't jinx it, man!" 

"Alright, alright, sheesh." 

_"So, Miss Kujikawa, what are you planning to do for the duration of your stay in Shibuya since it doesn't seem as though you've made any indication toward a tour this time round?"_

_"Well, I've got a tour planned for later in the year, but this time me and my friends have just decided to take a little vacation together. Some business has come up and we're going to deal with that at the same time as having a complete blast here in Shibuya!"_

"We're dead." 

"So dead." 

**_End Chapter._ **   
**_Well, there you have it folks, the end of another chapter in this story. Thank you for making it this far and I hope you'll review. Speaking of which is there anything in particular people want to see for this story? I'm curious to see if anyone has any ideas about things that could happen with any of the characters. Thank you once again and I'd like to give a small preview of the next chapter which will be titled: Venture into The Castle! Enter, Ryuji Sakomoto!_ **

_"Yo, what the hell is this place? I coulda sworn we went the right way!"_

_Ren was silent, looking around the castle gates as though he expected it to change to something else, the indication on his face being that he was just as confused as the blond boy beside him. Knowing that they weren't going to learn anything further out here, Ren jerked his head toward the castle, "Let's go in and see if we can find out something."_

_"Yeah, good idea man...this is some seriously messed up place..."_

_Ryuji and Ren slowly stepped forward, advancing toward the castle gates. They were about halfway toward the entrance, a few more steps would do it...only Ren felt something was off...as though there was someone watching him and Ryuji in the present moment._

_"What's up?" Ryuji asked him._

_"Nothing, let's just keep going, yeah?"_

_Ren figured it was more than nothing, but he didn't want to make Ryuji more freaked out by what was going on so he decided to keep it to himself for the time being and elected to keep a close eye on the situation just in case it turned to something dangerous._

_"Yeah, man. This is some seriously weird-"_

**And there you have it folks, I hope you'll continue to enjoy this journey that we're taking together. Until then, it is time to return to your rest, inmate!**


End file.
